Forum:2018-08-27 (Monday)
Discussion for comic for . Working on your Doctorate in Mad Science? Consider making Girl Genius your dissertation topic. ---- Psst. Hey Wooster. Remember ? --MadCat221 (talk) 05:25, August 27, 2018 (UTC) Bleh. That pretty well torpedoes any interest I had in Rakethorn's character. Tarvek, wad this doofus up and toss him away. --Geoduck42 (talk) 05:48, August 27, 2018 (UTC) Technically, Tarvek met Agatha not because of the Storm King plot (which had its own "Heterodyne") but because of the Lucrezia counter-plot. But of course the person Rakethorn (and Wooster, although his loyalty seems to waver) should really be worrying about is Higgs, whom they don't realize is a player at all. Bkharvey (talk) 08:27, August 27, 2018 (UTC) P.S. In the last panel, is Rakethorn suggesting that Trelawney plans to marry Gil? I'm sure that she's played the role of seductress many times in her spying career; Wooster shouldn't be upset that she's doing it with Gil, too. Yeah, she's Gil's hero, but he's the ruler of an empire. He's not going to forget that for long. Bkharvey (talk) 08:49, August 27, 2018 (UTC) P.P.S. They are related, right? Cousins or something? It can't be a coincidence that they're hard to tell apart. Bkharvey (talk) 08:51, August 27, 2018 (UTC) : I don't know. Phil's cartoony style makes a lot of his characters look facially alike, at least at times. -- William Ansley (talk) 12:14, August 27, 2018 (UTC) :They really aren't that similar. --Fred1740 (talk) 00:31, August 28, 2018 (UTC) :: Similar enough that at least two of us (William and I) weren't sure which of them we were seeing in recent pages, until we saw both of them at once. The Rakethorn we saw first, with the wet t-shirt, looked quite different from Wooster. I wonder if Phil has been drawing them more the same because of something to come up in the plot. (But I confess that I still don't see how everyone is so sure that the Storm King actor in the Opera is meant to look like Tarvek rather than like Martellus, so what do I know.) Bkharvey (talk) 02:02, August 28, 2018 (UTC) ::It's clearly Tarvek. Phil used the romantic trio (it's not an actual romantic triangle) for reader identification. It's also kind of a joke. It's just an illustration of Kaja's synopsis. We readers already know Tarvek has said he is the Storm King. We haven't met Martellus yet. As the story progressed, this synopsis doesn't match reality. "Ogglespoon" - a sorcerer-prince - is part Van Rijn. Andronicus called him a sorcerer. The Opera itself is part propaganda by the Order. They've prepared Zola for the role of Heterodyne Princess to exploit the original legend because, as far as anyone knows, there is no Heterodyne heir (The Battle of Sturmhalten changes that quickly). The Opera is a reminder to the public of 'the Prophesy". --Fred1740 (talk) 11:09, August 28, 2018 (UTC) If Albia's plan was for Rakethorn to distract Agatha, then she cannot read minds. She shouldn't even need to do that. She should have picked up Agatha's concern for her city. Wooster, having worked with Gil and having heard Agatha's of , could have told her if he had the chance. Even Zeetha isn't going to mess with Rakethorn now. Fred1740 (talk) 11:01, August 27, 2018 (UTC) : I said quite a while ago that Albia overstates her powers. But she doesn't seem to be dissembling in the Vapnoople pages, so I'm confused about what she can and can't do. But if you're suggesting that Albia doesn't know Agatha is worried about Mechanicsburg, I don't see why you think that. Indeed, it's because she knows Agatha has reasons to leave England that she's doing all this cloak and dagger stuff with Agatha and with Gil. Bkharvey (talk) 02:02, August 28, 2018 (UTC) :: Can't speak for Fred, but for me, assuming she's granted Rakethorn a personal audience at some point and knows what he's like, it's the idea that this doof is going to successfully distract Agatha from lunch, much less leaving England. ----Geoduck42 (talk) 03:43, August 28, 2018 (UTC) ::Albia should sense how strongly Agatha feels about Mechanicsburg. It is her city, just as England is Alba's country. --Fred1740 (talk) 11:09, August 28, 2018 (UTC) That look on Wooster's face in the last panel? That's not "Oh no, Rakethorn has outdone me". That's his "Sweet Lightning, this is all going to end in flames" look. Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 11:27, August 27, 2018 (UTC) : With maybe a side helping of Wooster starting down the path of doing something that is allegedly Scientician (talk) 16:46, August 27, 2018 (UTC) I'm glad that the Foglios finally confirmed in comic that the character who has been standing in the background of several pages recently and whom I (and others) had been assuming was Rakethorn really was Rakethorn. I couldn't imagine who else it could have been, but I'm still glad to know I don't have to go back and correct the chronology. -- William Ansley (talk) 12:14, August 27, 2018 (UTC) It appears that Tarvek's lifelong image projection as a fop is still bearing fruit with Rakethorn ... and Wooster doesn't really bother to correct him. Interesting.... Scientician (talk) 16:38, August 27, 2018 (UTC) :...Huh. You're right, he really doesn't definitively correct Rakethorn. Higgs is even a bigger problem as Bkharvey pointed out; he's a complete unknown unknown to them... If his cover's still good. Albia may be able to see... --MadCat221 (talk) 20:59, August 27, 2018 (UTC) :: The lack of correction leaves Wooster's allegiance open to question. Her Majesty, Gil, Agatha, or a muddled mixture. Or maybe it's just the school-day rivalry mentioned by Fred1740 below. Argadi (talk) 01:08, August 28, 2018 (UTC) ::: I think it's too soon to know what Wooster is planning. He could, for example, be planning to achieve two goals at once: serve Albia, and set things up so that Rakethorn puts his foot in it and he, Wooster, gets to clean up Rakethorn's mistakes and save the day. Maybe even a third goal, namely eliminate the need for Trelawney to vamp Gil. But I have to say that his face in the last panel doesn't look like someone with an elaborate three-level plan in the works. Bkharvey (talk) 02:02, August 28, 2018 (UTC) Anyone get the gist that Wooster is not too fond of Rakethorn, and Rakethorn is smug about this dislike? --MadCat221 (talk) 21:32, August 27, 2018 (UTC) : The former at least is true, yes. I wonder if Wooster gets along with any of his.. ah.. workplace associates besides Ms. Thorpe. --Geoduck42 (talk) 22:35, August 27, 2018 (UTC) :Suggestions elsewhere see Wooster and Rakethorn as rather different and likely old school day rivals - the product of British boarding schools. --Fred1740 (talk) 00:31, August 28, 2018 (UTC) :: Perhaps it's in the nature of spies that none of them really like each other. Unless they're in love. And, it's hard to imagine anyone liking Rakethorn. Bkharvey (talk) 02:02, August 28, 2018 (UTC) AGATHA--AS A SECONDARY OBJECTIVE? Could Albia be playing a deeper game? Could Zeetha, & Skifander (once ruled by one of Albia's lost sisters) be the real objective? After all Rakethorn is much more of a distraction to Zeetha than Agatha. Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 11:23, August 28, 2018 (UTC) : With Higgs around, Zeetha isn't going to care about anyone else as eye candy. If Rakethorn presents a threat to Agatha, she'll notice, but not otherwise.Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 14:55, August 28, 2018 (UTC) Now back to our story... Nobody's mentioned it yet, because it's obvious, but Wooster is doing the Hercule Poirot/Nero Wolfe routine of settling into an office and having the suspects/witnesses brought in one by one. I wonder if they're going to drag us through that whole process, even though we are ourselves eyewitnesses to most of the action. Bkharvey (talk) 05:06, August 29, 2018 (UTC)